Parole OK'd for woman fighting for exoneration

Anna Vasquez (left) and Kristie Mayhugh during sentencing proceedings. Before going to trial, they and the other two women turned down plea deals.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

A tearful Anna Vasquez, 37, who was accused in 1994 of aggravated sexual assault of a child, speaks on a phone during a prison interview. She is incarcerated at the Murray Unit, in Gatesville, TX. Tuesday September 4, 2012.

Maria Vasquez, mother of Anna Vasquez, holds her favorite photo of her daughter, Anna Vasquez -- along with two of the other accused women -- who received a sentence of 15 years in prison.

Photo By COURTESY PHOTO

Elizabeth Ramirez, her roommate Kristie Mayhugh, and their two friends, Anna Vasquez (pictured) and Cassandra Rivera, were accused in Sept. 1994 of sexually assaulting Elizabeth's two nieces, when the two girls visited Elizabeth's apartment at the end of July that same year.

Photo By COURTESY PHOTO

Elizabeth Ramirez, her roommate Kristie Mayhugh, and their two friends, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera (pictures), were accused in Sept. 1994 of sexually assaulting Elizabeth's two nieces, when the two girls visited Elizabeth's apartment at the end of July that same year.

Photo By COURTESY PHOTO

Elizabeth Ramirez (pictured), her roommate Kristie Mayhugh, and their two friends, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera, were accused in Sept. 1994 of sexually assaulting Elizabeth's two nieces, when the two girls visited Elizabeth's apartment at the end of July that same year.

Photo By COURTESY PHOTO

Elizabeth Ramirez, her roommate Kristie Mayhugh (pictured), and their two friends, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera, were accused in Sept. 1994 of sexually assaulting Elizabeth's two nieces, when the two girls visited Elizabeth's apartment at the end of July that same year.

Cassandra Rivera, 37, is one of four San Antonio women accused in 1994 of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Rivera is currently in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, TX. September 5, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Four San Antonio women are accused in 1994 of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Elizabeth Ramirez, 38, is in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, TX, September 5, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Kristie Mayhugh, 39, was accused in 1994 of aggravated sexual assault of a child. She is incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit, in Gatesville, TX. Tuesday September 4, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Four San Antonio women accused in 1994 of aggravated sexual assault of a child. Elizabeth Ramirez, right, 38, and Cassandra Rivera, 37, both in the Hobby Unit in Marlin, TX, wait to be excorted back to thier rooms after being interviewed. September 5, 2012.

One of the women now behind bars, Cassandra Rivera, gave the white teddy bear at right to her mother, Margaret Rivera (left), 11 years ago. After Cassandra went to prison, her mother got a white puppy and named it Teddy Bear.

Vasquez's mother, Maria Vasquez, made the announcement about her daughter's unexpected release during a panel discussion Saturday night at Our Lady of the Lake University, where an Austin documentary filmmaker held a “work in progress” viewing of footage of the women's case.

“I'm going to cook her a big breakfast just like she asked for,” Maria Vasquez said. “She hasn't had a good breakfast in 13 years.”

The youngest accuser, now 25, recanted the statement publicly in an interview last month with the San Antonio Express-News and to Deborah Esquenazi, the director of the documentary.

She has also met with the attorneys for the women.

As the nieces described it to police at the time, and later to jurors, the women called them into the apartment, where they were getting drunk and smoking pot, two of them lounging around topless, and held them by their wrists and ankles. The girls said the women repeatedly violated them, threatened to kill them and their families — then let them take a shower and go about their day.

The graphic tale later spurred talk of Satanism.

Ramirez was tried first and received the harshest sentence, 37 1/2 years.

The other three, who were tried together, received 15-year sentences. They reported to prison after losing an appeal in 2000.

The Express-News was also interviewed for the documentary.

Saturday night's fundraising event attracted more than 100 people, and Esquenazi said half of what was raised would go to the women's defense fund.

Vasquez, when interviewed by the paper in September, had been granted parole. But she said she refused to comply with the part of the pre-release conditions that meant talking about the crime in group sessions.

Mayhugh and Rivera also refused to take part when previously up for parole.

According to the pardon and paroles website, not following conditions of parole can result in sanctions, the site said.

All three said they were disciplined.

Attorney Mike Ware, who has been working for more than a year on the case with the Innocence Project of Texas, also attended the screening.

He said he believed recent polygraph results sent to the parole board's general counsel made a difference in its decision to release Vasquez.

“It was a way to explain why she couldn't stand up and participate in discussions in therapy,” Ware said. “It supported what she said, that she didn't do it, and wouldn't admit to it.”

Parole comes with restrictions, including registering as a sex offender, Ware said. The board website outlines many of those, but right now it's not clear which ones will be required of Vasquez.

“It's not exoneration but it's definitely better than being locked in a cage,” he said.

For Maria Vasquez, along with Rivera's mother, Margaret, and Ramirez's mother, Gloria Herrera, the release of one woman signals hope for all.

Herrera said she hasn't seen her daughter in more than a year.

She's had health problems and has been too sick to make the trip to the Hobby Unit in Marlin, where Ramirez is imprisoned.

“When I see her again, I just want to hug her, wrap my arms around and tell her how much I love her,” Herrera said.